Recap: Louisville 79, Seton Hall 61

February 23, 2013|Reuters

SportsDirect Inc.

Recap: Louisville 79, Seton Hall 61

No. 10 Louisville 79, Seton Hall 61: Gorgui Dieng logged a career-high 23 points and eight rebounds as the host Cardinals earned their sixth Big East win in seven games and fifth in a row over the Pirates.

Russ Smith added 19 points and went 10-for-10 at the foul line for Louisville (22-5, 10-4 Big East), which entered Saturday one game behind No. 8 Syracuse, No. 11 Georgetown and No. 20 Marquette in the conference standings. Luke Hancock chipped in 13 points off the bench for the Cardinals.

Hancock and Peyton Siva hit back-to-back 3-pointers as Louisville scored nine straight points to build a 26-19 lead with 7:18 left in the first half. Smith and Kevin Ware connected from downtown soon after for the Cardinals, who closed the half on a 23-8 run to take a 40-26 cushion into halftime.

Seton Hall could get no closer than 12 before Montrezl Harrell made a jumper to cap a 7-0 run and push the Louisville lead to 59-40 with 11:19 to go. The Pirates never threatened from there.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Dieng's previous career high came in an 18-point performance against IUPUI on Dec. 7, 2011. ... Seton Hall committed 19 turnovers while Louisville had nine. ... The Cardinals recorded 12 steals. Louisville entered the game leading the Big East in takeaways at 10.7 per game.